Cocaine misuse in selected areas: Rome.

Dramatic increases in seizures of cocaine and, perhaps, in its use, are recording in Italy and in many European Countries. This should mean that heavy health problems have to be expected in a middle time (3-4 years), as already in USA where there is spreading of clinically relevant in-patients. The most cocaine users form the unseen part of the iceberg, so it is difficult to contact with it and to verify in extent. We report data, observations and comments on the suitability of the used "Snowball" sampling technique and, mostly, on its supplementary perspectives. This research was carried out in Rome area (September-December 1987) in the frame of the first pilot multi-center study, promoted by the Commission of the European Communities, on cocaine prevalence and incidence (Munich, Rome and Rotterdam). Results about the patterns and the characters of the 83 questioned users random selected (according to "Snowball" sampling technique), 32 females and 51 males (from 25 to 51 years), are reported. Some peculiar points emerged, as the differences by sex referred to: educational level (less than 50% of the males primary/middle school, greater than 70% of the females high school/university); civil status (almost 50% of the males are single, less than 20% of the females live with partner); median length of time of use (males 8 years, females 6 years); referred cocaine amount weekly used (1-7 grams); associations with other abuse substances (50% with alcohol); drug related problems (police, work, family); tendency to start use long before (teen-agers too) and to increase it with time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)